A few months ago, Jennifer Mennuti, the VP of Operations for a landscape architectural design firm, was tabling in her hometown of Ft. Lauderdale, FL, sharing free information on vegetarian eating. While handing out leaflets to hundreds of passersby, she offered one to COK’s Executive Director, Erica Meier, sparking a conversation about volunteer opportunities at COK!

Meeting Jen was great for us and even better for animals — in just a matter of months, she helped us add the state of Florida to the US VegWeek map by hosting FIVE events in one week, including two packed screenings of Vegucated and a vegan bake sale that raised over $750!

Today is the first Friday of June, which means it’s National Donut Day! Americans have been celebrating this food-related holiday since 1938, and donut shops around the country, including several Dunkin’ Donuts locations, are giving away
free donuts to customers today.

Unfortunately, all of the donuts served
at Dunkin’ Donuts are made with eggs and dairy products from animals
forced to endure miserable conditions on factory
farms. Watch COK’s undercover video inside one of Dunkin’ Donuts egg suppliers to learn more.

It’s always rewarding to reach out to animal lovers, helping them make the connection that birds, pigs, and cows are every bit as smart and social as the cats and dogs with whom many of us share our homes. That’s why we were excited to spend last weekend at the Strut Your Mutt Parade and Festival in the nation’s capital!

Despite the heat, thousands of people and hundreds of furry, four-legged friends headed to this fun, annual event, where they were happy to be met with a smiling face from a COK volunteer dishing out free vegan cupcakes and Tofurky sandwiches. 

This past Sunday, COK’s West Coast team headed out to Worldfest, the largest vegan and solar-powered festival in Los Angeles, determined to reach out to the eco-conscious, soon-to-be vegan masses about the realities of factory farming using our powerful Pay-Per-View video booth. 

Despite the sweltering heat, thousands of people were drawn to this annual event and many of them stopped by our booth to find out how they could make more compassionate and eco-friendly choices. As a part of our Pay-Per-View program, attendees were offer $1 to watch a four-minute video revealing the painful truth kept hidden behind the closed doors of the meat, egg, and dairy industries.

I did it! This past Saturday I ran 13.1 miles in the Palos Verdes Half Marathon (PV 1/2), and with contributions from 80 generous supporters, raised more than $6,000 to help the 9 billion factory farmed animals raised and killed each year in the U.S.

Let’s face it: Los Angeles smog is infamous. Along with Hollyweird, traffic, and more traffic, it’s one of city’s most notable characteristics. You might be surprised to learn however, that the haze hanging over the City of Angels skyline isn’t just from car-clogged freeways and smokestacks—it’s also from cows.

Three months ago, Ken Swensen joined our volunteer team — and from day one, he hit the ground running, eager to help bring our message of compassion to the big apple. 

He started by heading up the COK table at the NYC Vegetarian Food Festival and he kept right on moving to the Connecticut VegFest, Queens College Green Festival, and Rutgers University.

He even started an vegetarian and animal advocacy group at his church!

In between all of his activism and regular day-to-day life activities, we managed to get him to sit down with us for a few minutes to talk about how and why he got involved in speaking out for animals. We hope you find his story as inspiring as we do:

Perhaps best known for his Oscar-nominated role as John Coffey in the movie “The Green Mile,” actor and muscle man Michael Clarke Duncan is now taking on a new role: animal advocate. 

In a new video released by PETA (embedded below), Duncan talks about why he decided to become a vegetarian three years ago, when he turned 51, and how his meat-free diet has changed his life.